Octopus fishing with PVC plastic tubes, the legal regulations

How does polyp fishing work with plastic tubes? From north to south, from Alassio to Ragusa, every summer the interventions of the maritime police follow one another to remove and seize illegal traps of hundreds of PVC pipes (those of the gutter drains), which are cut, joined with a rope and anchored without the appropriate indications: the octopuses are attracted to these improvised “houses” and end up in the pan. Great to go with an octopus and potato salad, of course, but the fi sh must be caught and treated according to the regulations in force, reiterated in a recent circular by the State Undersecretary for agricultural, food, forestry and tourism policies, where it reads: “ To the octopus fi shing activities (octopus vulgaris), through the use of traps in plastic material (such as, for example, PVC), the current national and EU regulations on fi shing gear are applied, mutatis mutandis and / or placed on the bottom “. In other words, “the vessels authorized to carry out professional fi shing,
using tools fi xed and / or placed on the seabed, can hold and use a maximum quantity of plastic traps, to such an extent that, at any time, the the total number of these tools is not more than 250 units; the connection to a single main line is allowed, via or not secondary lines, up to a maximum of 10 plastic traps “. Instead, “in the sphere of sport / recreational fi shing, the holding and use of a maximum quantity of 2 plastic traps is allowed for each boat, regardless of the number of people on board”.